Al Petragallo (Chad Comics 1)
The Spirit of Vengeance Backstory Al Petragallo was a homeless man, living in an alley way of southern New York. Some time in his early twenties, he crossed paths with the Toxin Symbiote whilst going to get a burrito from a burrito stand. A battle had taken place there, between the Venom symbiote and a hero - and the symbiote produced the Toxin symbiote as a result of its defeat. He didn't realize the goo like substance on his burrito until he got back to his alley-way, at which point it was too late. The Symbiote merged with him, and it ate the burrito too. The Start of Criminal Tendencies Over some time, the symbiote imparted its memories upon Al - memories that it shared with its father symbiote, the venom symbiote. Particularly of battles with Spider Man, and a hatred of him. Al was grateful for the power that the suit gave him, which he was able to use in order to sustain himself by stealing food, and robbing banks. As a result, he decided that he would do the symbiote one solid - and KILL SPIDER-MAN. He pumped weights for one whole year, to get strong enough to challenge the Mystic web-head. One day, he encounted Cobra - a Mutant outlaw, who had the dexterity and venom of a snake. She captured, and sold Al to the Mafia - but, due to being a grudge-holder, Al and Toxin broke out from the clutches of the Mafia quite easily via using the power of toxin to beat down her thugs which included sabertooth and the squirrel, and became determined to hunt Cobra down no matter the cost. Al challenged her to a battle once he had tracked her down - and she just barely got away, by the skin of her teeth. This was where he ran into Captain America. Killing Captain America, and Captain Moonlight He ran in to The Current Captain America on his hunt for Cobra, and engaged in battle with him - as Cap had heard of Al before, he knew he had to take him down. Al was able to overpower the captain even stealing his shield, and murder him in cold blood - only for Captain Moonlight to have taken witness of the event. Moonlight flew down to avenge the captain, and even this was not enough to stop the terror that was Toxin. In a fit of rage after consuming Captain America's body Toxin turned to Moonlight who was dispatched shortly after, and now Toxin was known as a dangerous, hero-killing monster. For the next several months, there was a man-hunt for Al, wherein he fought various heroes to deter them. Additionally, he hunted and ate various members of the Mafia. He also met The Spider officially during this time as they had met briefly before during one of Al's raids on the Mafia infested Casino. The Spider Hunt Eventually, he decided that it was time to take Spider-Man down, and so he left his alley-way, following Toxin's intuition to be brought to the Baresi Pizzeria. He snuck into the home, and whilst Baresi and his wife were defenseless - attacked Spider-Man. The two clashed in an epic battle, where Toxin was temporarily overpowered and knocked through a wall. However, he was not knocked out. He grabbed a nearby civilian, and ate him whole, unbeknownst to Spidey. With that, he got up and set his home on fire - destroying his Pizzeria and home in one fell swoop, and leaping up to clash with Spider Man once more. The battle continued briefly, and Toxin was just barely fended off - giving Spidey time to rescue his wife and take her to safety. Shortly after, she died of CO2 poisoning - as a result of the house fire, meaning Al had caused the death of Spider Man's wife and unborn child. The next few months were a continuous manhunt for Al, wherein he evaded authorities and heroes alike - until the Decimator conflict. From One Symbiote to Another During the Phoenix conflict, Al helped to fend the monster off - until it was going to blast a group of heroes and civilians. Using Captain America's shield, he blocked some of the celestial ray - and was thus disintegrated, alongside his Toxin symbiote. To this day it's unknown exactly why he did this. Due to his capability to hold immense grudges, the spirit of vengeance - whose host had been killed and de-bonded from it, quickly merged with his spirit to keep him and itself alive. Al had now become The Ghost Rider. Al quickly rose from hell to take back his throne and alleyway. Gambling is a sin After his resurrection, Al quickly got back onto the streets now more hate-filled than ever. With toxin gone Al was finally free to do as he wished though he often missed the symbiote who he had become friends with. His new goal was simply tracking down the mafia and everyone who had to deal with the casino's mob. During his investigation, he had a run-in with Lucky girl and her friends who Al promptly savagely beat with his newfound powers sparing only a mutant with claws and Lucky girl. After watching the devastation of her friend's Lucky girl for whatever reason joined Al in his quest to hunt down the mob. With news of Al reappearing from the depths of the afterlife, a few other mutants set out to find him in hopes of settling the score. This would be when Al reappeared in front of the moon spider aiming to not only scare him but urge him to call off the hunt. Its been ten years since Ten years have passed since Al came back. His crew of misfits moved on leaving him alone with his thoughts. He even moved out of the alleyway and into a bunker in the sewers just outside the alley. His hunt for the mob still as unending as ever. With his resurrection and hunting the mob had heard rumors and whispers of a monster chasing them down one by one. Their response was to go into hiding meaning all Al could ever find was the bottom feeder thugs. With his hunt for revenge put on a halt, he immersed himself fully into hiding. He got a job, got a few hobbies, made friends with the ghost inside of him, the list goes on. Powers & Abilities Powers: * Spirit of Vengeance * Chains of Vengeance * Hellbike Summoning * Hellfire Control * Hellfire Manipulation * Penance Stare * Regenerative Healing Factor * Organic webs * Stingers Abilities: * Training with Hellbike * Training with Chains of Vengeance * Experience with symbiotes * Knowledge of symbiotes